Tuesday, January 20, 2015

I'd like the outcome of the General Election to be a progressive
alliance, with electoral reform top of its agenda.

The idea that Labour should declare that it would not enter a Coalition is ignorant nonsense. British politics has changed. The LibDems through hard work over a couple of decades proved that the British public is prepared to accept an alternative to the old Parties. The SDP and to a lesser extent PC have done the same. And now UKIP and the Greens have woken the sleeping democratic giant up. The days of Labour and the Conservatives having a monopoly of opportunity for power are gone. Our Electoral system is patently unfit for purpose. Every vote should count, but it doesn't. A Tory in Wigan or a Socialist in Woking might as well not bother to go to the Polling station.

At the next Election neither Labour nor the Conservatives will get more than a third of the vote. Probably less. Will that be a mandate for single Party government? Of course not. The serendipitous workings of our electoral system may give a wafer thin overall majority to one of the two Parties. But that would be no victory and to try and govern alone when two-thirds of the people who voted didn't support you is arrogant and doomed to failure.

I hope Labour is the largest Party after the election. I hope the Greens get a few more seats. I hope that the LibDems hold around 35 seats and think they will. I hope that UKIP implodes. I hope that Labour regains lost ground in Scotland. And I hope that this leads to a Labour/LibDem/Green coalition with Electoral Reform top of the agenda.